Spiritual Opposition

The collapse

It was a Saturday morning a few months ago. I had woken up before the rest of the house. It must have been in that time when everything was still shut down because we didn’t have anything on and so I thought it would be good to allow the others to sleep in a bit.

Well, while the others stayed in bed, I unpacked the dishwasher and put the clean dishes away. I had a big stack of plates which I was putting away in one go, but something was about to happen that I was not expecting.

You see, our plates are kept on a particular shelf. Now, if you look at most kitchen shelves, they are usually held up with four tiny little shelf support pins. Once the shelf is in place, it is something you don’t give a second thought to.

Well, would you believe it, one of those little support pins had gradually worked itself loose.

Now what happened next… well, it my mind it is as if it happened in slow motion.

The shelf starts to move. I then move my hand to steady things, but in the process the weight of the plates I was holding makes the shelf tip even more.

Then all of the plates start moving.

What comes next is the avalanche. Every single plate and bowl come sliding out. All I can do is stand there and watch the absolute carnage around me.

The noise is incredible and it feels like it lasts forever. It was probably only a few seconds but it felt like a minute. It was crashing. It was smashing.

Remember, everyone else was in bed. Well… they were. As I stand with plates crashing around me, four sleepy heads emerge around the corner with a look of astonishment.

Now this real life incident can feel a bit like a metaphor for what sometimes happens in life.

There are these pins holding it all together. Pins which, for all intents and purposes are invisible. Unless we consciously make an effort to check these pins - which, let’s face it, who actually does that? - then you can be really close to a big disaster without even realising it.

Push it just that bit too far, and there is a huge flow on effect. You feel helpless as everything crashes around you.

In the bigger picture of life, we recognise there are certain factors that might knock us off track. We recognise that if we plan poorly, there’s a good chance things will go bad. We recognise that when we make a few bad decisions, we can make a big mess.

And so it can be easy to just focus on these things. In some ways, they are the things that are in our control.

But there are some things that unless we consciously think about it, can take us by complete surprise.

The nature of these can vary considerably. It might be the unexpected health issue. A sudden change in your financial situation.

Now I don’t want to suggest a simple reason why each of these things happen. The reasons are going to be as varied as the nature of what’s happening.

But there is an underlying reality which we frequently ignore but has a big influence on our lives.

I’m talking of the spiritual reality that exists.

The Spiritual reality

So what is this Spiritual Reality?

Well, earlier we read from Ephesians 6 and it says: “for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm”.

So what do we make of all of that?

Well there are two tendencies that Christians tends to take on these matters.

For some, its just all too hard to understand. And so it becomes something we largely ignore. This tendency can verge on the point of not seeing anything lower than the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. You see, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are core to the beliefs of any Christian, but talk of angels and demons can feel almost like we’re moving into the fantasy world.

There’s another tendency, and this tendency moves us in the complete opposite direction. It is the complete and utter fascination of the whole spiritual world. This tendency can verge to the point that the physical world is almost meaningless. Everything that happens occurs because of some spiritual influence, whether good or bad.

Now, I’m going to suggest that both tendencies are problematic.

On one side, we’re ignoring the spiritual reality. On the other, we’re ignoring the physical reality.

So let’s try to plot a view which can hold both the physical and the spiritual together.

Acknowledging the Spiritual realm

The first step is to acknowledge that the spiritual realm is real.

The Bible frequently talks about angels and demons.

Angels act as messengers. After Jesus 40 days of trial in the wilderness after his baptism, we’re told the angels came and attended him. At other times, such as Ps 91:11, angels are said to have a guarding role.

Demon’s are also throughout the bible. Jesus casts out demons. Demons are pictured as causing a lot of havoc.

You would have to say that Bible is clear that there is a realm with angels and demons that interact with our physical world.

And in fact, that is exactly the point that Paul is making in Ephesians 6 when he tells us that our struggle is not with flesh and blood.

What is the interaction?

So if we acknowledge that the spiritual realm is real, the next thing to understand is what the nature of the interaction with our physical world.

Now, this is where things get a little tricky. You see, while I will strongly argue that the spiritual realm does interact with the physical, that interaction is not easy to spell out.

But if you think about it, that’s probably to be expected. By very nature, if it is part of the spiritual realm, then we can’t describe it like we do in the physical world. You see, we live in a very scientific age where through observations and experiments and so we can more or less explain many of the physical interactions in our world.

But science is limited to our physical world. You can’t do experiments on the spiritual, because it is of a different nature.

But that being said, we can make a few observations about this interaction.

Influence thinking

Firstly, we can see that the spiritual realm can influence our thinking. In 1 Tim 4:1, it tells us during these times that some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.

Possession

At times, demons can even take possession of someone. Now some might question whether this actually took place, or was it that those considered demon possessed were just suffering ailments unknown to them at the time.

Well, I would argue that demon possession does happen, even though we might not see it much in our own experience today. Can I suggest however that in areas where people are practicing in the occult, demon possession happens more frequently.

Other

So, certainly it’s clear from the bible that the spiritual world can have an influence on people. But is there interaction limited to that? Well, I’d suggest it isn’t.

At the start of Job, for instance, when God allows the devil almost a free rein on Job, we see fire falling from heaven, and winds that blow down houses, and Job suffering physical conditions.

Now, it’s probably best not to take that story too far. After all, in that account, God did allows the devil the rein that he did, but I would suggest that it indicates that perhaps the influence of demons does extend beyond just influencing people.

What should we do?

Now, my purpose this morning is not into scaring you out of your mind in fear of all that the demons are up to.

In fact, my hope is that when we’re finished we’ll know that we don’t need to fear.

You see, God has given us everything that we need so that we can stand firm.

Just look at Eph 6:11 “Put on the full armour of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes”.

Temple

Now, I’m going to briefly look at that armour shortly, but before I do, I want to connect this discussion to where I’ve been heading with the series we’ve been in the last few weeks.

If you’ve followed this series, then you’ll know that I’ve been following the theme of the temple throughout the Bible.

Last week I showed how that theme ultimately points us to Jesus, and from this, emerges the church that Jesus establishes.

You see, the temple essentially boils down to the way in which God interacts with the world. It is described as his dwelling place - although that’s not to suggest he is limited to that location. But in the Old Testament, it was the physical place where people could connect with God in worship.

Now last week I did a very brief survey of the temple in the Bible.

By necessity, I went quite quickly over different sections. Well, there is one period where I now want to briefly return, as way of shedding some light on the Spiritual aspect.

Rebuilding the Second temple

So, you might recall I said that the first temple that was built when Solomon was king, well, it got destroyed by the Babylonians when they were taken to exile.

But then, when King Cyrus issued a decree allowing the Jews to return to their land, they rebuilt the temple.

Now we can read about this process in the book of Ezra, with subsequent rebuilding happening in the book of Nehemiah.

Well, what is made clear is that during this time, there was a lot of opposition to the rebuilding of the temple.

In Ezra 3:3, we’re told that as they started the rebuilding of the altar, which was their initial focus, they were full of fear.

In Ezra 4, we get people opposed to their work wanting to come and help. Zerubbabel, who was heading up the rebuilding work, saw through their plan and refused their help, which led to groups of people discouraging the Jews in the attempt to rebuild.

They were constantly being frustrated in their work.

Now you might ask at this point why I’m linking this with my focus on spiritual opposition? And I want to suggest that this is in fact the way that spiritual opposition often presents itself.

Particularly when work is happening that is furthering God’s kingdom.

This is really why I wanted to take you back here, because this is such a crucial point in shaping the direction God is taking his people, and so giving consideration to what is happening here can help us to understand how to cope with spiritual opposition.

Getting through opposition

Well, God raised up a prophet during this time who was able to encourage them through this - and his name was Haggai. And the great thing is, he gets a whole book to himself which we have in what we refer to as the minor prophets, although, his book in only 2 chapters long.

Well, in the book of Haggai, we see the message that God gives to his people and in many ways it’s such a simple message.

Haggai 1:13, God says: “I am with you”

And again in Haggai 2:4

Haggai 2:4 NIV (Anglicised, 2011)

But now be strong, Zerubbabel,” declares the Lord. “Be strong, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,” declares the Lord, “and work. For I am with you,” declares the Lord Almighty.

I want to suggest that it is the exact same reason that when we come back to Ephesians 6, we see Paul saying: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armour of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes”.

When God is with us, the battle is won.

God has the victory

You see, there is a very important thing you need to know in this whole discussion.

The battle between the heavenly forces, and the dark world, is not an equal battle.

Sometimes we think about it as if two equal forces are battling it out and that we can only hope that good will win out in the end.

That is not the case. In fact, God has already won the victory. When Jesus died and rose again, that victory was sealed.

The fact that the devil has any influence at all is because in God’s wisdom, it is not the right time to draw it to a close.

God allows the evil forces to remain, not because he is powerless, but because he is patient, and in his patience, more and more people are able to be brought to repentance.

Standing with God

You see, this is the most important thing for us to know in all of this. The battle rages, but when we stand with Christ, we are secure.

That doesn’t mean bad things won’t happen. The opposition is real. But you stand with someone who holds the ultimate power.

Elisha’s servant sees

There is actually another really powerful picture of this in the Old Testament that I want to briefly share. It comes in 2 Kings 6, when the Aramean army have surrounded Israel and it was looking very bad indeed for Israel. It was during the time of Elisha who had a great trust in God, but Elisha’s servant started freaking out somewhat.

Well, Elisha prayed that the servants eyes may be opened, and at that, the servant was able to see “the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around [them]”.

You see, Elisha was saying, you don’t need to worry about the earthly concerns, God has a much bigger army. And on that occasion, Israel was saved.

You see, God provides us with everything we need - how we access that I’ll explain very soon.

Ephesians

Well, on that note, I do want to go back to Ephesians, and in fact, back to where we ended up last week, when at the end of chapter 2, Paul is describing the church as the temple of God.

Now after describing how God’s people come together on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Jesus as the cornerstone, and become the temple, the dwelling in which God lives...

He then moves into painting a picture of what it means to live a life worthy of being part of the temple of God.

In chapter 4, he focussed on having unity. He moves into a discussion on our lifestyles. In chapter 5, he also talks about making sure our family life is in line with God.

And so it is important to note that when we get to chapter 6 which concerns the spiritual reality that we’ve been discussing, this should not be considered in isolation with the important messages Paul has been giving before this.

As I mentioned before, we really need to avoid the opposing tendencies to either be completely focussed on the physical or completely focuessed on the spiritual. We need a focus on both.

The Armour of God

Well, I do now want to give a really quick run down of what Paul describes as the armour of God. It deserves a lot more attention then what I’m about to give it, but that’s because I wanted to spend more time on getting the ground work for understanding the spiritual reality.

Well, we’re going to find that the first few articles being described are mostly focussed on defense.

It starts with the belt of truth. The thing that will essentially support all of the armour is truth.

The breastplate then, is righteousness. While we’re called to righteous living, we do need to recognise that the real righteousness comes to us from Jesus who imparts it to us. With this righteousness, we can repel those attacks because we know we’re forgiven.

Our feet will come fitted with the gospel of peace. It’s the gospel that drives us and keeps us going.

Our shield will come from our faith. Not a blind faith, but a faith that comes from Jesus. A faith that is actually very powerful, in fact, as Paul describes, it extinguishes all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Then comes the helmet, the thing that protect the head - and the helmet is our salvation. You see, no matter what happens, even if we die, our life is protected because we have eternal life with Christ.

Finally comes a point of attack. Most of the armour is about protection, but in verse 17 we get the sword of the Spirit. The sword which is the word of God.

You see, we don’t just have to cop all the attacks we receive. We fight back with the truths that are in God’s word. You see scripture reminds us of the victory that has been won. The victory that we are a part of when we stand with Christ.

Prayer

But these items of armour are not things we just passively put on and then think we’re done.

Rather, we pray. In verse 18 it says we pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.

Prayer is so vital to all of this.

Prayer is what connects us to God. Prayer is what keeps us in the game. Without prayer, we loose sight of it all.

Now it mentions all kinds of prayers. There are different kinds of prayers that we can pray.

One of those types of prayers are the petitions we’ll often give for other people when they are in a time of need. Maybe they’re having surgery or something similar. So we’ll pray, and in doing so, we recognise that we need to stay close to God in these matters.

These prayers are really important and we should continue them. But there are other kinds of prayers we can offer.

I’m thinking about the specific prayers that enter us into the spiritual battle. In our prayers we can acknowledge the spiritual realities that I’ve been talking about.

Now you might think - what are our prayers going to achieve. Surely God can do it without us. Well, the truth is he can do it without us, but he has made it clear throughout Scripture that he wants us to be a part of it. And it is as we join him that his stronghold will become more evident in certain areas.

Now, I believe any believer is able to be a part of these kinds of prayers. However, that being said, I also believe that some people are able to be more aware of the spiritual battle than others. Those who have those gifts I would urge you to be particularly active in praying into this battle.

If you do feel that you are able to discern this spiritual activity, then I would love you to talk with me. It would be great if there were enough of you that I could put you together and form a spiritual prayer group.

Conclusion

I put this message in this series on How to Build a Church, because I know that as things start to move forward and we get a foothold in a community for God, the devil loves to play tricks and cause havoc.

I believe that God is starting to move, and for this reason, we need to really dig deep in our prayers.

We need to pray for unity. We need to pray for each those who are part of our church family that we can remain faithful. Because the devil will move in and start to cause doubts and fears. He will try to discourage us.

We can’t allow this.

The truth is, while this battle is real and it has real consequences, we don’t need to fear if we stand firm with Christ.

Because he has won the victory. But let’s not become ignorant of a very real and powerful force that, while it may be invisible, is there, and ready to start an avalanche like my collapsing shelf of plates all around us.

So let me pray...